1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an array of stoppers held in a common tray or lid. The stoppers have indentations in their top sides by means of which they can slide into tracks provided in the lid. The lid holds the stoppers so that they may be inserted into a conventional multititer plate by either hard or machine. The multititer plate contains rows of upwardly facing open ended tubes or cuvettes. The lid has an end that is removable thereby allows for the sliding removal of the lid without removing the stoppers from the tubes that form the multititer plate or tray. The lid is shaped to allow for stacking of plates and may be reusable. The tubes may be sold with or without a liquid therein so that stoppering is needed as in a traditional full size test tube. More particularly the invention is directed to a multititer stopper array for a conventional multititer plate or tray consisting of integral T-shaped elements defining a generally elongated construction throughout and having a free surface area extending along the side thereof to engage with open tubes or open wells in the tray.
The lid defines a frame having recesses for receiving the T-shaped elements in securement within the frame of the lid. A series of stoppers are integrally disposed on the free surface area of the I-shaped elements, and the series of stoppers extending therefrom to be matingly received in a series of the open cells or wells, and also the method of construction thereof.
The invention relates further to a re&hod of making a multititer stopper array for a multititer plate or tray consisting of the steps of molding a T-shaped means defining a generally elongated construction throughout and having a free surface area extending along a side to engage with open cells or open wells in the tray and having a series of stopper means integrally disposed on the free surface area of the T-shaped means. The series of stopper means extending therefrom to be matingly received in a series of the open cells or wells, and assemblying and securing a lid means defining a frame having recess means for receiving the T-shaped means within the frame of the lid means thereof as more particularly described herein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A multititer plate is usually developed as an array of about 96 miniature test tubes in a single plate or tray having wells or cells that could be chemically treated and recessed as a single unit. Such an arrangement has a drawback that all the tubes had to be used at the same time. If only one test of the unit was used, the remainder of the plate was wasted, later versions were constructed in holders containing strips of 12, 8 and finally, individual tubes, cells or wells, all still retaining the original dimensions. Normally these tubes are coated inside and dried as a single plate or tray and then sold whole or in smaller groups.
Various prior art multititer stopper array systems, and the like, as well as apparatus and method of their construction in general, are found to be known; and exemplary of the U.S. prior art are the following:
Shami; U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,314 PA1 Vince; U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,659
Shami discloses the provision of a tray and a plurality of individual cells in the form of specimen vessels removably located in the tray and a provision of a lid for the tray physically identified with the cells of the tray.
Vince is seen to show the multiwell assay/culture strips of wells arranged in linear and side-by-side relation on a base and the Vince patent cited Shami above as to whether it is obvious to provide a lid for the wells that form a base of the multiwell assay/culture strips of wells.
These patents or known prior uses teach and disclose various types of coverings for multiwell assay/culture strips of various sorts and of various manufactures and the like as well as methods of their construction, but none of them whether taken singly or in combination disclose the specific details of the combination of the invention in such a way as to bear upon the claims of the present invention.